Of all the suicides in the United States, 80% are committed by men. This fact reminded me of a conversation I had a number of years ago with a man who was the executive director of a large drug and alcohol recovery center. This particular center worked with both men and women who were struggling with addictions. I had the opportunity to be the speaker several times at their chapel services, and I could not help but notice that for every one woman, there were eight or nine men in the audience. The director indicated that this was the national average. Furthermore, he went on to tell me that in almost all cases, these addictions were clearly symptoms of deeper and more troubling issues in the lives of these men.  

When you look out into the marketplace, you see many men coming and going, and to a man they appear to be doing just fine. No problems. Yet under an exterior life of confidence, there exists in almost all men a hidden life of fear, pain, and loneliness. And most of these men have no idea what they should do. Most of them live with great fear that they might one day be exposed.